Smash the profiteers

<f ».> H

SMASH

THE

rt

PROFIT

pp'

This booklet was prepared by IRVING HOWK. Labor Action Kdlturtal Ito.ti(I

A. VICTOR, Campaign Director

P. BERN, Organizer, Local New York, Workers iMrty

•

Illustrations by R. NANCY KKKM.

Published by
WORKERS PARTY CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE

Brooklyn Headquarters 114 WEST HTH STREET

276 Fulton Street New yofk n> ^ Y<

2nd Floor
Brooklyn, N. Y.

CHelsca 2-9681

Harlem H*Mtlii».trir*?

2143 >r-Vfllth Avmiui*

flouin tU>'i

Nriv Vi»rK i'iu

Workers Party Branches meet evt'ry Wwlii*-: d:iy at IH*>» p *.•

■0V

Set up, printed and bound by uni'iti ?.;;.
Printed in U.S.A.

It'll Soon Be Election Time Again

Mah Friends . . .
He's a crook . . .
He's a crook . . .
(They're both crooks!)

Ah'm here to protect
the Southern ladies from
minimum wage laws. . . .

Take away some of the
power of the trade unions. . . .

Ah'm labor's frien. f Jus* LOVE labor. . . .

Tho Democratic Party is your fricn. . , .

The Republican Party is your frion. . . .

Everybody is your frien ... at election time. . . ,

Turn off that radio! Let me road Terry and tho
Pirates whora the humor is intentional and tho
lying is harmless.

That's the picture yoo get of election time, isn't

it? Can't say wo blame you.
Yet here we are— we of the
Worfters forty-— asking you fa
read this little booklet about
elections, and about our two
candidates for Congress in
New York City. Max Shaeht-
mon in the 15th District In
Brooklyn and Ernest Rico Mc-
Klnney in the 22nd District In
Manhattan.
We think we have answers to the questions thut

huv:/. around in a fellow's head until they drive

him whacky.

Thv uiiswits to questions like:

Why RIack .Market?

Why are foot! prices, sky-rocketing? How much
is your dollar really worth?

Is then- rcnins to be another war? When? Why
war anyway?

Let's Look At It This Way

• 9

The most important elections this year are for
Congress. Therefore, let's see what the issues are.
Let's take as our starting point the end of the wan

—from then until this
coming election — and
see what's happened.
One thing we can
tell you right off:
all the glory-road
speeches and the su-
gar-sweet rhetoric of
the war days are
pretty much forgot-
ten.

Those of us who
were in service re-
member listening to
those dreary Infor-
mation and Educa-
tion hours (at least
you didn't have to
march — and if it
was dark, you could
sleep too) when they
told us how wonder-

ful life would be onee the war wiv- owr umi tti«-
"democracies" had won. I support- tho..i- of j>>»
who remained at home got the wmie lint-.

Well, we were pretty skeptical all aloij;? we
were socialists who believed that the war wa.-n'i
a holy crusade for "democracy" but rathi-t- an
imperialist war; that is, a war fur profits, for no
nomic domination.

And it looks as though all the "de»noiT;u*y" talk
— and the babble about the Four Freedom:;- -was.
just... talk* Talk to prod us into war an*! inu*
blood and into death. Talk to make u:'. jrivt* up the
greatest right a workingm&n has: hi:; rirrht to
strike.

But what's happened Kin«e?

Look at this world. Is it. the world of the F««ir
Freedoms?

Or of Three?

Or of Two?

Or even of One Freedom?

They talked about Freedom from War,!. Hut:
Starvation rule* the world.

In India, 20,000,000 will pmbably -tarn- t«
death in the next few month?.

In Berlin, T1J has claimed « very stemml eha.|.

In Austria, people live on 800 to 1200 calories,
one-third of what is necessary for health.

In England, they've instituted bread rationing.

In America — but we'll come to that.

Crazy world, isn't it? The capitalist countries
make A Bombs, B Bombs, C Bombs, Z Bombs.
Millions, Billions, Trillions for Death. Europe fer-
tilized by the bones of a generation. America, too.
... Of course, this country got off easiest ... no
starvation. But we had food shortages, black mar-
kets and skyrocketing prices.

Crazy World. Isn't it?

That** the society we live in. It's good for de-
duction, for war, for death. B EC 4 USE THERE'S
PROFIT IN THAT!

But If can't utilise its vast resource* for peace
the way it can for war!

Lot's take another look at this world. They said
—all the. gum-beaters who get paid to lie: the
cnlumnistii. the propagnndir.ts-— they said that this
would hv f.h« last war and it would bring free-
dom ami peace. N*ot 1918; THIS OtfK LS im-'-
KKKKXT! they .-aid.

Was it?

You know what's boon going on. Just as soon as

the Socond World War was over— -they started
preparing for the THIRD.

Who? Ail the powers! Including Stalinist Russia.

They begin dividing up the world in cynical
fashion without as much as a "by your leave" to
the people concerned. They give a piece of Europe
to this country, a piece to that.

The Stalinist dictatorship draws its "iron cur-
tain" over Eastern Europe and brings its bloody
totalitarian dictatorship to Hungary, Rumania,
Poland and Yugoslavia,

The British play their old imperialist game, too.
They play both ends — Arabs and Jews — against
the middle in Palestine. They help the Dutch im-
perialists suppress the Indonesian revolution.

The French government — weak and feeble
though it is — does its part in the imperialist
game: It suppresses the Indo-Chinese revolution
for national independence.

The United States "frees" the Philippines but
controls them with dollars and naval bases*.

The American government, for all its protesta-
tion.-* of nobility, is right in there squabbling over
how to divide the world at those .secret Big Four
eoufereiices. -.Why are they secret? What are
those "statesmen" ashamed of?)

It in the !«ame old Imperialist struggle. The peo-
ple are never consulted.

5

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And TJsen— T/ie Atom Bomb

Remember the atomic bomb? Everyone played
around with it as if it might go off one of these
days — as it might.

But they kept on manufacturing it. They went
out to a lonely island in the Pacific and there they
tested it.

And even before the test, a spokesman for the
Army informed Congress that there was some-
thing else : a new kind of bacteriological warfare.

This new form of bacteriological warfare has
a tremendous advantage. It destroys people, but
it does not destroy factories. The atom bomb
would destroy some of the things for which sol-
diers are sent to
die; the factories,
the wealth of the
enemy country.
' But here is a new
weapon. Kills the
enemy; not the
wealth.

Ain't progress

wonderful? — for

the capitalists!

. It is against

this background

— a world in deep social crisis ; that we now turn
to the main part of this booklet: a discussion of
domestic events since August 1945. But we cannot
forget this background. For we cannot separate
ourselves from it; we are part of it.

The Great Strike Wave

What was the most important event, or series of
events, in American life since the end of the war?
We don't have to think twice to answer that one.
It was the great strike wave.

The strike wave that swept the country from
end to end: auto workers, packinghouse workers,
steel workers, electrical workers, miners. Every
major section of the American labor movement
swept into action — it took one's breath away.

We all knew what it meant when it happened.
Workers were tired— tired of being told not to
strike because of the "national emergency" (the
"national emergency" which didn't prevent fabu-
lous profits) ; tired of long hours and tired of the
rising price spiral which cancelled out wage in-
creases.

So America's workers struck.

And of course you know who was at the head of
that strike parade. It was the GM section of the
United Automobile Workers (CIO).

i

i !

>*-$

6

|W

These auto workers of GM are among the fight-
ingest in the country. Usually what they say and
do today, other sections of the working class will
say and do tomorrow.

But. even more important: THEY HAD A
PROGRAM.

What was this program? We of the Worker*
Party and the weekly associated with it, LA150R
ACTION, called it the GM Strike Program.

Ordinarily when workers go out on strike, they
just ask for wage increases, improvements in con-
ditions and let it go at that. But the GM workers
saw the wage increases were being eaten up by
price increases. It, became a vicious circle. There-
fore, they said:

— We want a voice in determining what their
profits are going to be.

— We want wage increases without any in-
creases in the price of
GM products. Let the
wage increases come
out of the gigantic prof*
its of the corporation.

And in order to ac-
complish t:ii.--, we want
the ri:?ht to examine
GM's book?- - .

Open the Books!

Let's see. what is going on. That doesn't mean
how much profit you made last year; anybody can
find that in the public library. It means: Let us
take a look at your cost accounting system. Let
us see what you are planning, lor this year and
next. We will prove you can increase wages with-
out increasing prices!

This GM STRIKE PROGRAM represented a tre-
mendous advance for the American workers. And
that is why the Workers Party candidates for Con-
gress, Max Shachtman and Ernest Rice McKlnney,
feel it is so important. Of course, the way Walter
Reuther, who was associated in the public eye
with the program, sometimes put it, the whole
thing seemed merely a conservative "reasonable"
request.

Out when you considered the implications of this
program, then you could see that it was dynamite
— and for our sido.

Why?

lltH*niu;e i.as Mtix * Shachtman, the national
chairman of our party, the WvrJn'.rn Pttrtii. wrote)
"it nignitu-d a vote of non-confidence in the 'man-
awr*' of "fret 1 enterprise,' a demand for direct
intervention by lah«r in the running of the econ-
omy as a whole, for only the direct control of Uwr

economy can make possible the regulation of
wages AND prices AND profits. From this de-
mand to the demand for a government which will
control wages, prices and profits, in the interests
of labor or of the 'consumer' there is only one
step. ..."

Suppose, asked some people, suppose the cor-
porations can't pay a decent wage without charg-
ing exorbitant monopolistic prices? What then?

Walter Reuther, who is still fiddling with the
capitalist parties, had a hard time answering—
because he'd been babbling about preserving the
"rights" of the capitalists.

The Workers Party and its candidates, Max

8

Shachtman and Bnuvt Kiev *[**»»»•*• f^
lieve that the only right a capitalist slu.uk Lave
the right to go to work and mule, an un-
living like the wst of us; we had a W«\ *^*"» '
to that one:

We said that if they couldn't, pay duvnt wa»w
and maintain low price*, the corporal ion,; wr*
no good.

As Max Shachtman wrote to thv CM .-1 riRrtv :
"Your demands on GM. are not only a rtiall.'in'i.
to the corporation; they are a rhalleiu<v .o »»•«•
labor movement. If you say that industry ran <ln
those things and the monopoliwts r.:iy inn« '«i«.».;
try cannot, then it is perfectly 1<W«»I tor VH
to take over industry «nd P*» VI * tn !»rni-iiiv_T:iat
your demands are realizable My thrtr pi-'-Usoi;.
the monopolists have proved that th.-y an- M>-
CIAL bankrupts. Remove thwu bankrupt:; from
control of industry by <U?innwliiiK th« nationaliza-
tion of the industry under vrorktfrs t-ontrnl

The GM Strike Program hii tu th<* nk-a «>i
workers taking ov«*r industry. It b*d t<» Hm* s«Va nt
NATIONALIZATION OF ISWSTUY rXUMl
WORKERS' CONTROL. Ann*rit\V-: e:>p:»«My »••
produce pitnty /or «M is a prowii fact. Our n.'h
natural resources, our tremendous tiia<-hit!<-ry «»i
production and our skilk-d labor f»wi' inr.t !»«» «
central ji/oh to pour out product ;» that wnl -f»v«-

everyone a life of security, comfort and leisure.
The only bottleneck is private ownership and op-
eration for. private profit. The huge industrial
plants, mines, transportation and communication
systems, banks and chain stores should be owned
by the nation and operated under workers' control
in accordance with a national plan of production.
This is one of the main election planks of the
Workers Party.

Simultaneous with the strike wave, there came
a reaction from Congress and the Truman ad-
ministration. Congress, you may remember, was
in large part elected with the support of the Po-
litical Action Committee (PAC) of the CIO. The
Truman administration claimed to be liberal.

Workers Have Wo Congress

Hut the true character of both Congress and
the Truman administration -as of all capitalist
governments- -was completely revealed during the
strike wave.

How they ranted and rawl -there anti-labor
congressmen many eleelfd with VAC. support.

And Truman went out and broke the railroad
workers strike.

Truman introduced into Conirress a fascist it*
slave labor bill which would have rnadi 1 it possible
to draft strikers into the army.

Congress passed the Case Bill, which would
have cut deeply into labor's right to strike.

On all sides, Washington hummed with anti-
labor hysteria — Democrats and Republicans, con-
servatives and liberals alike. Labor needed its
own men in Congress, but it didn't have them
there.

That means, we said to the workers, you need
a government of your own, a workers government.
And to get that government, the first step, though
not the last one, is to organize a political party of
your own.

In fact, the two main weapons which workers
need today are the GM Strike Program on the
economic front; an independent labor party on
the political front. For both of these, the Workers
Part]) candidates stand pledged to fight.

Hut . . . let's not get
ahead of ourselves. We
have already discussed
thi- strike wave and the
(fir Program. We showed
what strength the Amer-
ican working class has,
how militant it can be.
Now let's continue our
.-tory.

Let's Take A Look At . . .

PROFITS

(Their's: the bosses.)

AND WAGES

(Our's: the workers.)

AND PRICES

(They charge them:
we pay them.)

AND HOUSING

(They own them; we
pay rent, when we're
lucky enough to find
one to live in.)

And the idet we J»t dbeti*ed brtelV.- *.
tabor Party,

. And then we'll wind up with a few % -i^
layout cwstlves, the, Wether* Pmtf* when- v.<
stand, what we d& and what we believe .»
Aough all along well »y a few woidt «!«•■:»:
our attitude toward each «f these quoit; ..■»*

Profits.'

You remember the scondal
after the First World War.

Brother, that was nothing!
Compared to this war, th»;
profits in the First World Wor
were like comparing a small
storekeeper to the A. & P.

During the four war years
of 1915-1918, U. S. industry
made a profit offer faros of 26.5 billion dollars .

During the five war years of 1940-1945, U. S.
industry mqde a profit afior foxes of 56 billion
dollars.

(A War for Democracy — they said to us — A
War for the Four Freedoms — they said to ua —
A War for a Sacred Cause — they said to us.)

56 BILLION DOLLARS WORTH OF IT!

During this war the number of billion-dollar
companies in the U. S. increased by 11, making:
a total of 43.

Net profits after taxes during the five war years
(1940-1945) averaged 250 per cent above pre-war
levels.

Since Pearl Harbor (1942-1945) profits after
taxes averaged 300 per cent higher than pre-war
levels.

Let's break this down a little.

Here {ire some of the percentage increases in
1944 profits as compared with average (1936-
1939) profits.

Motor vehicle parts 89ti',o

Iron. Steel and by-products 1ia\l* i.

Lumber, Timber and by-products 1064*>

Electrical machinery 434',/

Aircraft equipment MH f /r

Transportation equipment 1686%

Food and Food products 150%

Meat products 271%

Rubber products 698%

Bituminous and other soft coal 1148%

The United Auto Workers made a study of 26
aircraft companies and their earnings which is
staggering.

1936-1939 $20,554,274

1941-1944 173,598,422

Increase 745%

But wait a minute. The corporations will soon
bo getting a flat ten per cent rebate on war-time
payments of excess profits tax. This sum alone
will amount to about $2,H40,0flO,00O.

Yet these profit-soaked corporations had the
gall to say they "'couldn't afford" to pay higher
waucs before the recent, strikes!

The Workers Part it candidates stand for:

A 100 per cent tox on all war-timo profits! Let
no man have profits from the war in which our
brothers spilled their blood!

A S25.000 ceiling on all annual incomes of indi-
viduals!

11

A graduated capita! levy en all accumulated
wealth to provide the funds necessary to build
houses, hospitals, sehools. to provide adequate un-
employment insurance for the unemployed, to take
care of socially necessary projects.

SOAK THE RICH! Against all sales taxes and
other hidden methods of picking the pockets of the
poor!

There's one side of the story: fantastic, incred-
ible profits for the corporations. Now let's see how
the workers made out.

Prices and Wages

When the author of this booklet began preparing
material for it, he collected some statistics on
prices. By the time he put them together, prices had
risen again. The profiteers can raise prices faster
than you can collect information about them. . . .

But then the author thought: why give statis-
tics on prices anyway?

You know about it in terms of your own pinched
budget. You know that you get less and less for

your dollar when you w
to the store to buy Bomi'-
thing.

Take, for instance, an
increase which the OPA
allowed as "reasonable"— -
an increase in the price of
butter of 11 cents a pound,
an increase in the pric« of
cheddar cheese of (J cMite
a pound, and in evaporat-
ed milk of one cent per
can.

That hits you in your
pocketbook, of course. But
imagine what it. mean;: on
a nation-wide scale.

It means an incrt»a.*« to
the consumers — that is, tin* wm-KL-?;.'
their wives primarily— of a tittul ir.

$250,000,000!

And that's just for miihII \u>w *'■■- '■"'- *'■■'
really big prico. jumps.

For instance: the pricv inor«*:t.j , "i i»J *<:«-.i* whi*'*j
took place in tins FIRST TWO li \ YS :«!N v til'A
lapsed come to about 40 prr tvr.:. T : .i,\t jhi-:h ,
even if it had not Konc up anoiisf-i' j«-imy, m .'v.*r>-

12

was an additional coat to consumers — and addi-
tional profits to the meat packers — of

$2,000,000,000!

Two billion six hundred million dollars. In meat
alone!

Another example: the milk companies say
they'll "have to" ("have to"— who's forcing
them?) raise the price of a quart of milk by four
cents. In a year that would cost the consumers an
additional— .$900,000,000 !

When you have to pay two cent* more per bottle
of milk and if you use two bottles a day, that
means:

Fourteen dollars and sixty cents more a year-
last for milk!

That's what the price increases would moan. And
that's only the be-
ginning. (This hook-
M h> hi'insc written

a fi-w dav-

ifter

th«- n> w hij iiu.;,-
mvn'* OI*A hn?
bi i t*!i .'iriitpii'ii hy
f'tm-ri't*::.- and ■•'hTli-
t'd l»y Pn* idi'ti*
Truman. Th*< prir» i
jpirrtl j 1 : continu-
ing !«• mnunf : *»«irf

only knows where it will be by the time you read
it.)

Before OPA was abolished, the cost of living
had risen by 50 per cent. (The cost of cotton gar-
ments went up 84 per cent.) And that was only
the beginning.

To stem this tide of profiteering, OPA proved
to be a dike with many holes. It was flabby and
weak. One incident tells the whole story about its
character. Its then director, Chester Bowies, de-
nounced in December 1945 the leather companies
for having made profits of 730 per cent over pre-
war levels. A few days later he allowed them an
increase of four and a half per cent in the price
of shoes. OPA was really a kind of "controlled
inflation."

Yet even that annoyed some of the profiteers
and blackmarketers. They wanted a run-away mar-
ket. Thoy wanted a field-day In which they could
filch the people without restraint. And Congress,
ever responsive to their desires regardless of the
suffering and hardship It might impose on the mass-
es of people, came through nobly for the profiteers.
The bill It passed was so rotten that even President
Truman had to veto It.

After throe weeks of labor and consumer dem-
onstrations and buyers strikes Congress finally ere-
cted a now zombie OPA — a walking corpse. A busl-

13

nessmen's OPA without real price control but with
a guarantee to profits. Prices are rising and there-
fore our pay envelopes are getting smaller each
hour. What shall we do?

But before we answer the question of what to
do, let's discuss for a minute one very important
related problem. »

It's a Lie!

I'm sure you've heard that the reason there's not
enough food in America is that we're sending a lot
of it to feed Europe;

This kind of talk is vicious. It is not only vicious
— it is untrue.

And here's why:

There is plenty of food in America ; enough for
ourselves and for many of the people' in other
countries.

You know where that food is?

It is being deliberately held back by the profit-
eers who have created artificial scarcities in order
to jack up prices.

The food is being held back by the large cattle
ranchers.

It is being held back
by the packing house
companies — WHO ARE
REVELING IN THE
BIGGEST PROFIT
KILL OF THEIR HIS-
TORIES!

It is being held back
in the warehouses by
the wholesale compa-
nies.

And that's where the
clothes are, too!

Held back by these
highway-robbers whom,
in moments of politeness, we call capitalists — held
back to smash price control — held back to squeeze
us dry — held back to create artificial scarcity!

The N. Y. Times of June 28th reports, for in-
stance, that '.'Wheat Elevators Are Bulging."
Then why not relieve the bulge?

How explain that practically no cattle was com-
ing into the. Chicago stock yards on June 30th —
and on July 2nd, after the OPA had lapsed and
the packing houses could legalize their black mar-
ket prices, cattle poured into the stock yards in
enormous quantities?

14

Li-t':; not he fooled by this demagogic talk about
foot! In'inir diverted to Kurope. Let's not allow
the vicious characters who print tripe in the
Hearst, .McCoritui'ic and l'aiiercon papers to cre-
ate a spirit, of haired between us and our brother
workers in Kurope.

Tin- W'tn-kt-ra I'uri'i candidates pay:

Oar rest enemies ore at borne.

They are the capitalists!

They are the bfaehmarfeetoers!

They arc the profiteers!

They arc the big ranchers!

They have conducted a great conspiracy against
us. They ere trying to squeeze out of us in prices
what we won in wages through hard and bitter
struggle en the picket lines of this country; through
our blood and sacrifice; through our unions and
struggles.

This conspiracy must bo smashed!

When i! w.'i;- n matter of producing for war, the
rupitnt::-! y.-?em uf America performed miracles.
Wliy ran'l if dn tin- ::ame for pence-time needs?

And if !? rnn'l, what good i:: i«?

What Shall We Da?

We've got to do something! Wo think wo have
some answers. None of the following ideas by them-
selves will do the trick; they have to be taken
together as a unified program for militant labor
activity on the price problem. This Is what the
Workors Party candidates propose:

POINT 1 IN THE FIGHT ON PRICES

Who really causes the shortages and high
prices? It's the biff companies. They have a stran-
glehold on distribution. How could there be a
black market, in meat if the biff packers weren't
somehow involved?

That's why when the GM section of the United
Automobile Workers went on strike recently, they
said: We want a wage raise but the wage raise
should be taken out of profits. If there were a
jump in prices at* a result of our wage increase
and if the wiim 1 thing took place in other indus-
tries, tin-it the wage increase* wouldn't be worth
a damn.

Therefore, the Wtn'kvrti Party, basing itself on
flu* <JM Program, Kays: let the workers in each

15

musz

industry, through their un-
ions and stewards' commit-
tees and special price com-
mittees, control the prices of
THEIR OWN industry. If
each union held the price line
in its own industry, then we
could hold the price line ev-
erywhere. (And if there were
some unorganized factories
around, a few visits from the
CIO and AFL Councils might
convince them.)

Such committees would get to the price problem
at its source. For who knows better than the
workers in any given industry what kind of chisel-
ing is going on.

POINT 2 IN THE FIGHT ON PRICES
Prices can be controlled throughout the process
of distribution by committees of workers consist-
of railroad men, truck drivers, warehousemen,
clerks, office help, etc.

POINT :i IN THK KKIHT
ON PRICKS

The wivt'H of lit** *«*''*' ili
the shop:* haw f» tm* vV -siii.
action a* wril. I*rii*. a '"'*» *"■
controlled at the *;-;>' »>'
aalr. They .*hould form j-»* : -i?K-
borhood committed t*» coop-
erate with labor airaiu '*• « t, » , -»i
profited. Thi'y can '"'■■■"''-'■ v
; Buyers Strike:-. V.wn *** **
mifrht not lower pri/> :- «*■'•'• •**■
ly, a buyer;--- ^Irike \v<«uid !)«■

a dramatic demonstration t«> holp nu.»«li-*" '«•

people in the tight.

POINT 4 IN THE PK5IIT ON VilU '*:.-■

Trying to keep priws down wi.jj't il » ?.»■.»• ■':"*
alone. >Kapr rajV* are Inm* overdue*

The PackinKhouse Worker; t»"H»» h.ivf a -l* 1 -^
idea. They demand a minimum annual •-'•' *>-'<'> !*'"■*

16

prapw

a bonus arrangement
by which want* !■?<> up
in proportion to the
cost of living, hut don't
go down when price?
get lower. I» other
words, wage* fcwP P*"'*-'
with prices.

POINT .", IN* THE
FIGHT ON PRICKS

The. biwriv! culprit is
the foot! industry, which means primarily the
packers unci whole. =;ilers.

Whv not Nationalise the food industries? Why
not take thi-m ovvr under government ownership
and have local committees of the workers involved,

coisinii the plants and
packing houses?

The Worker* iV ft if
cntididate-. say:

NATIONAMZBTHK
KOOn INDUSTRY
I'NPKU WOKKKttS
I'ONTilOL:

This is the Wor/tivw
/*«rf»'« idea of how to
conduct a price control

vampaiRii. The job is up to the. labor movement.
Everv militant unionist should raise th<se matturs
in liia local. And a vote for Skaehtman and Mc-
Khntey is a vote for this program.

Clear the Slums!

A few days afeo a veteran in Los Anireles, un-
able to find a place to sleep, parked his family in
the city hall area and net up housekeeping. The
news hardly received much publicity; it was old
stuff by now. This incident symbolized a nation-
wide state of affairs.

America has never had enough decent houses.
There are still

Eleven million homes without running water
Fifteen million without private toilets
Seventeen million without private baths
Seven million in need o* major repairs,
liy the end of HMG, according to the National
HousiiiK Agency, we shall have 3,401 ,000 families
furred 10 live, with relative!; or to double up with
other?.

Why has at h-a.-t one-third of the nation nl-
wavn had to live in slums? The real extate intcr-
4ut-i preferred Us build expensive apartment
h«»u:CK <»r collect hierh r^iilf* on shim property.

17

$400 BILLION FOR WAR

WHY NOT $250 BILLION
FOR HOUSING?

During the depression there was very little huiid»m-,\ iMiriug
the war, there was next to no building of permam*n liicm-fi, ami
a cessation of repairs and improvements.

And the housing crisis threatens to hocomo war. «'• Tm ivturn-
ing veterans desire — and rightly so— a place «»f Ha-ir *.-a-m in
which to live. (There's nothing like a barrack:. »'» "h'Vc-b.p nil*-';;
taste for privacy.) In New York City, at tin* i»r»vt'nr tiim*,
211,000 veterans' families are unable to obtain :i I»liuv f» live

What are our needs for the coming years? Th«-»v i* tiihy a
shortage of eight million homes in this country- T'-n jv:sr., iWn
now, we will have another five to six million new fau»:lit'.'. in
need of homes.

That means that in the next ton years wt* mm f - •■!•■.'; r i-:rri;I
million units which are unlit for human hal»ita::«»:i :u\t U>y^i\il
repair; we must repair four and one-half milling nu\'. - vth'wh
are in bad condition; and wo must build at b'a.'i 1 «» ■" "•'*& m i»vv
housing units. (These statistics arc based on muvrs. ui l'"»»r:tj!:»-
Magazine, CIO studies and figures of National ftf.i -■• ■ ,\ '*'■■•*

But private construction companies hav iu v ■■ ?■■ .■:;--»-• ■-'£• *l if?
building more than one-half million new hum*-, »:* ;. ;.•-..?■. Our
needs are at least five time:*, as much.

What is clearly needed then, b? an umn«'dhUr' ?« -I-i I'tvi'vaij;
of slum clearance and housing <>oiu>tmrtb>ii. Ti;t- &' •■■■'■ . i'-u"v
candidates advocate :

A 250 billion dollar fivv-ynti' proffram to pi-t>vi-;-- -I' --■ — ? '..■:»■
ing at reasonable rental for all and an »-\j»'N.-;v«" i';:'=i.r \-:*>v':
plan to provide schools, hospitals and ofhrr iir- ■■!-■ i •-■ .-...,-i»-.i*;.
facilities.

18

A national plan to begin work immediately on
the erection ot" UO million ]>< rmanrnt, low-cost
hoitiiinif auita.

THIS PROGRAM SHOULP CONSTRUCT
HOMES FOR WHICH WORKERS CAN PAY-
THAT IS, AT RATIOS OF *7 TO 812 PER
ROOM! IF YOr CUT OUT PRIVATE PROFIT
FROM IlOirSIXd CONSTRUCTION, THAT IS
PERFECTLY POSSIBLE.

This country found it possible to waste $400
billion fcir an imperialist war. Why not spend
$250 billion for homes, for schools, for hospitals,
-■a constructive purpose. Thii? must be the de-
mand which the worker.; raise.

Lynch Mobs Ride Again 1 .

There L; on«* :u<etton of the papulation which is
.•■!iil learning th»- bitter l«v:vw! <*f what it means
tci he an oppiv.vrci minority srr»*up undi-r capital-
ism. The N^rro prnph*, nm>-t»»nth uf the nation,
wi-rv w*);n'd atvl cnfitvd durint; tin* war yvara;
when fh" capita*! '1 »*-»vi-r!uii> nr needed NcfTn
youth to dii* »>!> th« i hai!h!ald\ to work «n the
I, fAo R«*ad, if lif-;»a» (« apt-uk ahtitit uli«dh hint: di«-
erirmnatinn. It i ven m'atvtl the Fair Employment
Practice.: Cummiftee which war; '-'uppt»-»»d to out-
Jaw riwcriruinafimi in t'mpIuymriiT. Of rour.ic, thi«

FEPC was a pretty weak business all along;, but
the very fact of its existence was a victory.

Now, however, that the war ia over and the
capitalist government no longer needs the Negro
youth as it did daring the war, the old pattern is
returning. Congress has |i»t hilled the FEPC. Job
discrimination Is returning. Negroes are again tast-
ing the terror of mob violence and police brutality
— as witness the tragedies ot Columbia, Tennessee;
Freeport, Long Island, and the tynchlngs in Georgia
on the heels of the Tatmadge campaign. The scandal
of race discrimination, that living mockery of all

19

tho talk about "democracy" In America, Ii still
with us.

Operation Dixie, the unionization drive in the
South, will not only raise the standard of living
but will also create the mass base for trade union
committees to defend racial minorities. The work-
ers organizations must organize the defense of its
own people.

Max Shachtinan and Emtst Rice McKinney —
the latter of whom is the W»rkers Party candi-
date in Harlem and has a long history as a leader
of the Negro people in their struggle for demo-
cratic rights — stand committed to the following
planks :

FOR FULL POLITICAL, ECONOMIC, AND
SOCIAL EQUALITY FOR NEGROES!

MAKE RACIAL DISCRIMINATION IN EM-
PLOYMENT, IN HOUSING, AND ALL PUB-
LIC PLACES A CRIMINAL OFFENCE!

SUPPORT LEGISLATION FOR EFFECTIVE
ACTION AGAINST LYNCHING!

FULL SUPPORT TO THE UNION DRIVE
TO ORGANIZE THE SOUTH!

Pretty Good Idea—
But How?

Perhaps as you have beoa reading this booklet
you have been thinking, pretty good Idea, but bow
are we going to get it? We can't expect the Demo-
crats and Republicans to do that for as. . . .

Exactly. That's just the point! Wo can't expect
the Democrats and Republicans to do these things
for us, because that's not THEIR job. Their job
is to serve the basic interests of the ruling class
of this country, that is, the capitalists, the monop-
olists, and profiteers — America's Sixty Families.
They may sometimes pretend to be friends of la-
bor — they break into that rash regularly, like the
seven-year itch, around election time— but that's
just to get votes. One of them may be more liberal
than the other ; one may be better ; but as a group
they are not our representatives.

REPRESENTATIVES CELLER AND POWELL

Even the Democrats who also run on the Amer-
ican Labor Party ticket in Now York are, not our
representatives. . . . Democrats like Emnnuol (Vi-
ler ami Adam Clayton Powell. They cannot, fight
for the above program on a national wale. Such a
fight means creating a national Labor Party based

20

mmmmmmsmmmm msm

on tin.' trad*' unions, Creating such a labor party
means a definite break with the Democratic Party;
the parly of Ililho and Rankin. Are Representa-
tives (Ylle.r and Powell breaking with the Demo-
cratic Party? Of course not! They are running:
for another term on the same party ticket with
Bilbo and Rankin.

Ho they even want to break with the party
which maintains the system of profiteering, the
Democratic Party? If so, why
did Emanuel < 'oiler introduce an
amendment to the ('(institution
to fix a permanent tax limit of
25 per cent on income? People
with incomes below $5,000 per
year ahnuhl put/ do itwm*- tax.
Hut i he profiteers who make
than §50,000 u year tshtutld jmij
Hiorr thun huff of their income
in tasen. Representative Colter
is a mt'intu-r <»f a larne. and pros-
perous law firm; he organized
the. Brooklyn National Hank
and wa-* Chairman of the Hoard
of Director; of the Kmoklyn National Corpora-
tion before becoming a congressman.

Celler and Powell are not Labor Congressmen
They Arfonj; with the Democrat*.

■f

It's like supporting company unions. It doesn't
pay. A. company union, whatever its promises,
isn't responsible to the workers; it's responsible
to the bosses. And a capitalist party, whatever its
promises, isn't responsible to the workers; it too
is responsible to the bosses.

The time has come for a declaration of political
independence by American labor. Through its
powerful trade unions, numbering more than
15,000,000 members, it has dem-
onstrated its economic power —
but only to see this power al-
ways frustrated in Washington.
Its gains won on the picket line
were often lost in Washington.
It is time for labor to organ-
ize itself for INDEPENDENT
political action against the cap-
italist class. That is — A LABOR
PARTY.

A national labor party, inde-
pendent of all ties with the two
capitalist parties and in active
opposition to them, would sig-
nify American labor's coming of age.

Such a labor party should have as its program
the points of labor struggle we have outlined in
the preceding pages. It would then be the political

21

UlU'ULBKimi'W '

arm of the American workers as the trade union
movement is its economic arm. It could carry into
the political arena the voice of labor and it could
fight for its demands.

A labor party would signify once and for all
that the American workers were through with any
kind of flirtations with the two capitalist parties,
that they were no longer the "poor cousins" of
American politics. It would mean that, on the con-
trary, the American workers were on the road to
taking what their numbers entitle them to— the
power of government. For the logical outcome of
the growth of a labor party would be a WORK-
ERS' GOVERNMENT. Such a government really
could put info practice the Jhings we have written
about here; such a government would represent
us, rather than the bosses. Such a government is
the hope of our class and the first step toward it
is to create an independent labor party.

And now, before we sign off, just a word about
ourselves, that is the party in whose behalf this is
being written:

The Workers Party

We are a party of revolutionary socialism. That
h __we believe in the need tor a complete and total
chance in the form of our society. That's why wo
sa « we are revolutionary. We also believe that this
change should take the form of a democratically
organized socialist society-one in which the pee-
pie own the wealth together and produce for use
rather than for profit.

We urge you to think nlxmt tin- wwii-iy in which
we live. Hasn't it shown its hai.krupvy? Its u:*-
lessness? Its inability to »?iv«- t!w un-
people what they want ami n-^17 U
movement toward war?

The vast productive r.-ip.-irrilii-r. ««f ll'.i: »'-tM:i«rj-
which were so i-omplH-ly Hiiliwl for *:ir pur-
poses- -if Uu-y wm- u..nl for p.-:if-ril, .-»■»'. irwi-
tive purposes in a .sneinlU ;=«ri.>y whs-r- u» i.r.*:;
teerinjr and no Mfch inl.-r.--l. w..ulii :m- »i :« K--
way of the common r»>'»d. wh»l is tii.v-'- 1 :i " , -"< 1 - ! « :f '
of plenty and pwi«* uml s p «» 1! l w «' , '" uh ' i ■ <;:Vt % !
That is what our sum \*. !'•«: wi- :»?*' '«'. - •*»- ply

.. l.f tin-
t'i.n.iiini

22

CAPITALISM
MEANS

,-• WAR
AND
INSECURITY

■tisvdht-tl <-,*> Ihr iJay l»* Any ;.■.«« ■-■ ami luvii-s of the
w*irkii»rT cj;j.-; *.;»■ »yt\- atv i:»i itr.ly !i\«'d on the

\\Y :»?*•. «<' .,;:'.' .aiii, a party t»f revolutionary
■.ni'iaiiMn. A vstiVii ft *ii:.: !««■!:«•:? i ■■ m'f< r •■:»*>* about

that. We are not the same as the Norman Thomas
Socialist Party, which wavers between the milk
and water variety of parlor socialism and just
watery pacifist liberalism. We are a party that
believes in the need for struggle, and not for lady-
like preaching.

We have even less in common with the so-called
"communist" party (Stalinists), which is merely the

SOCIALISM MEANS
PLENTY FOR ALL

23

puppet of the totalitarian dictatorship of Stalin in
Russia and which dances to whatever tune Stalin
whistles. The Stalinists are the most vicious and
deadly enemies of a free labor movement; they
have nothing in common with socialism.

We, on the contrary, believe that socialism
means not merely a thoroughly complete change
in society, that is, a revolutionary one, but also
that this change must be directed toward a new
society which is thoroughly democratic and social-
ist in character.

Our party advocates and fights for that new
society. Our party also struggles for a whole host
of immediate needs of the working class, as we
have outlined in these pages.

We urge you to read more nf the literature of
our party, as advertised on the following pages of
this booklet. We urge you to come up to our head-
quarters so that we can tsdk about many of these
things in greater detail. We urge you to write
to us.

And those of our readers who live in either the 15th Congressional District in Brook-
lyn or the 22nd Congressional District in Manhattan, we urge you to vote for the candi-
dates which our party has put up in those districts, as a means of expressing your
solidarity with our program.

Every vote for the candidates of the Workers Party will strengthen its campaign to
win the labor movement for the above program. However, its elected representatives,
while relying primarily on the direct action of the organized working class, would fight
for such legislation as would facilitate the carrying out of this program.'

24

"YT:

VOTE FOR

MAX SHACHTMAN

IN THE ISfh CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT IN BROOKLYN

ERNEST RICE McKINNEY

IN THE 22nd CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT IN MANHATTAN

/~

&VOTE WORKERS PARTY

25

■'£..■ •*'■'. .,.:■ ..3*, -..-.I-..,:—'.*..- ^„-f'-.-. . .--■- ■- ■'■ -, '■<,, ■■ ■ ' —■"-*■ ^

Program of the Workers Party

1. For Price Control by labor and the
Consumers

Wipe out profiteering and high prices by art inn. Only
the workers can control prices. Labor must haw the de-
cisive voice in determining the prices of consumer com-
modities. For wage increases without price increases. For
popular price control committees,

31. For a Living Wage

1. For an immediate wage increase to m«vf the rising
cost of living.

2. For an escalator clause in every miimi eudtraet, to
provide for automatic wage increases to cmv<t uuy wUli-
tional price rises.

3. For job and wage security through a ."iiarfinteeil
annual wage, providing for a $2.f>00 annual miiiii-'unit.

26

IS9. Clear the Slums! Build Homes!

1. For a 250 billion dollar five-year program to provide
decent housing at low rental for all and an extensive pub-
lic works plan to provide schools, hospitals and other needed
community facilities.

2. For a national plan to begin work immediately on the
erection of 26 million permanent low-cost housing units.

IV. Tax the Profiteers

For a 100 per cent tax on all war-time profits above
five per cent on invested capital. For a $25,000 ceiling on
all annual incomes.

V. Nationalize Big Business

For the nationalization of the big. monopolies: the in 7
dustrial establishments, transportation and communication
systems and the banks. To be owned by the nation and oper-
ated under workers control.

27

VI. End Discrimination Against the Negro

People

For full social, political and economic equality for
Negroes.

.. ©pen the Doors to the Jews

1. For full and unrestricted immigration into the United
States by the persecuted and homeless Jews of Europe.

2. For the right of the Jewish people to unrestricted
immigration to Palestine or any country of their choice.

Vlii. For Full Economic and Educational
Opportunities for Veterans

1 Readjustment allowance, on the job training subsidy
provided by the GI Bill of rights, to be bawd cm a wage of
$40 a week for single veterans and 3«">5 for married wtorans.
plus §5 a week for each additional deiM'nilont .

2. For immediate granting of a federal huiius of $1,000
for each year of service.

28

§X* For Peace and freedom

1. For the right of all peoples and nations to decide their
own future. For self-determination for all nations. For free-
dom of the colonies.

2. For the withdrawal of all armies of occupation. Bring
the American troops home. For an end to conscription.

'*£

I. For an Independent Labor Party and a
Workers Government

For an independent Labor Party of the workers and
working farmers based on the trades unions. Break with
the Republican and Democratic Parties. For a government
of, by and tor labor.

FOR A SOCIALIST AMERICA AND PLENTY

FOR ALL.

29

READ AM® SUBSCRIBE TO

LABOR ACTION

America's Leading Labor Paper
and read about

SOCIALISM
and

— the Trade Unions
— The Negro People
— International Events
—National Politics

FIVE CENTS PER COPY
Six Months — 50c One Year — $1.00

30

New international Publications:
THE NEW INTERNATIONAL

Monthly Organ of ftevo/Mrionery Marxism

Subscription Rates:

One Year— $2.00 Six Months— SI .25

Single Issue — 25c

«

THE NEW COURSE

Sy LEON TROTSKY
With an Essay !>y Max Shacfitman on

The STRUGGLE for Hie
NEW COURSE

Paper— SI .50 Cloth— 52.00

INDIA IN REVOLT

Sy HENRY JUDD
25 Cent*

a

SOCIALISM, the HOPE
of HUMANITY

By MAX SHACHTMAN
10 Cents

HAVE YOU GOT YOUR COPIES OF:

THE FIGHT
FOR SOCIALISM

TAo Program and Principle* of the
Workers Party

By MAX SHACHTMAN

176 PP. — Attractively Bound in

Cfoth and Paper

CLOTH: S2.00 PAPER: $1.00

AND

PLENTY FOR ALL

(Revised and illustrated Edition I

By ERNEST ERBER

25 Cents — In Bundles of 5 or More, 20 Cents

! WORKERS PARTY

114 West 14th Street. New York 11. N. Y.

I
I

I

| G I would like more information on the WORKERS

| " PARTY.

i Q I would like copies of PLENTY FOR ALL

J rj I would like copies of SOCIALISM, THE

1 HOPE OF HUMANITY

fj I would like copies of SECURITY AND

"" A LIVING WAGE

r" I would like
""' SOCIALISM

copies of THE FIGHT FOR

; 1 I would like :i subscription to LABOR ACTION

~: I would like a subscription to THE NEW INTEK-
" NATIONAL,

F,m-h.;;eil find $

rearm'

A»idre.«

I

ity

/.ort»

State

31

«iKm^wwjMirraCTfn! a W H!iiBagamiaaa»gaa!i

ERNEST RICE McKINNEY

Candidate for
Reprwseatatlvo In Congress
22nd Congressional District
(Harlem)— City of New York

OT!

WORKERS

PARTY

MAX SHACHTMAN

Candidate for
Representative in Congress

15th Congressional District
County of Kings. City of Mow York

mmm

Request Date: 07-FEB-20 10

Expiration Date: 17-FEB-2010

ILL Number:

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A 1 1

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ILL Number: 3693091

Call Number: N/A

Format: Monograph

Title: Smash the profiteers : vote for security and a
living wage.

Pub. Place: New York, N.Y. : Workers Party Campaign
Committee, [1946?]

Requester: TEXAS STATE UNIV-SAN MARCOS -
Interlibrary Loan

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IIIUIIIII1UIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII1IIIIII

62405249
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